Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II eBook

Thus, as we have already seen,[510] Titus pitched
his camp before 11 the walls of Jerusalem and
proceeded to display his legions in battle order.
The Jews formed up at the foot of their own walls,
ready, if successful, to venture further, but assured
of their retreat in case of reverse. A body of
cavalry and some light-armed foot were sent forward,
and fought an indecisive engagement, from which the
enemy eventually retired. During the next few
days a series of skirmishes took place in front of
the gates, and at last continual losses drove the
Jews behind their walls. The Romans then determined
to take it by storm. It seemed undignified to
sit and wait for the enemy to starve, and the men
all clamoured for the risks, some being really brave,
while many others were wild and greedy for plunder.
Titus himself had the vision of Rome with all her
wealth and pleasures before his eyes, and felt that
their enjoyment was postponed unless Jerusalem fell
at once. The city, however, stands high and is
fortified with works strong enough to protect a city
standing on the plain. Two enormous hills[511]
were surrounded by walls ingeniously built so as to
project or slope inwards and thus leave the flanks
of an attacking party exposed to fire. The rocks
were jagged at the top. The towers, where the
rising ground helped, were sixty feet high, and in
the hollows as much as a hundred and twenty.
They are a wonderful sight and seem from a distance
to be all of equal height. Within this runs another
line of fortification surrounding the palace, and
on a conspicuous height stands the Antonia, a castle
named by Herod in honour of Mark Antony.

The temple was built like a citadel with walls of
its own, on 12 which more care and labour
had been spent than on any of the others. Even
the cloisters surrounding the temple formed a splendid
rampart. There was a never-failing spring of
water,[512] catacombs hollowed out of the hills, and
pools or cisterns for holding the rain-water.
Its original builders had foreseen that the peculiarities
of Jewish life would lead to frequent wars, consequently
everything was ready for the longest of sieges.
Besides this, when Pompey took the city, bitter experience
taught them several lessons, and in the days of Claudius
they had taken advantage of his avarice to buy rights
of fortification, and built walls in peace-time as
though war were imminent. Their numbers were
now swelled by floods of human refuse and unfortunate
refugees from other towns.[513] All the most desperate
characters in the country had taken refuge there, which
did not conduce to unity. They had three armies,
each with its own general. The outermost and
largest line of wall was held by Simon; the central
city by John, and the temple by Eleazar.[514] John
and Simon were stronger than Eleazar in numbers and
equipment, but he had the advantage of a strong position.
Their relations mainly consisted of fighting, treachery,
and arson: a large quantity of corn was burnt.
Eventually, under pretext of offering a sacrifice,
John sent a party of men to massacre Eleazar and his
troops, and by this means gained possession of the
temple.[515] Thus Jerusalem was divided into two hostile
parties, but on the approach of the Romans the necessities
of foreign warfare reconciled their differences.